Wallpaper
by Brightness Random
Summary: When Alessa downloads a wallpaper of Loki, the most she's expecting is some teasing from her friends. Instead she ends up with the actual Norse god trapped in her phone. What do the two of them have in common? Absolutely nothing. But they'll need to learn to coexist because they're stuck with each other for now.
1. Chapter 1

Alessa took a moment to blink as she scrolled through her tumblr. _Maybe something else would be more interesting,_ she decided with a yawn. She'd already looked over her dash and checked out a few new pages. Opening a new tab, she continued the eternal search for entertainment.

 _Hm. Avengers fan art_. She clicked into Deviant Art. Ever since her friends had dragged her out to see The Avengers about a year or so back, Alessa had been hooked.

She'd watched all the MCU movies at least once or twice, but she wasn't afraid to admit that she'd stayed up watching Thor a few times a month since she'd discovered it, trying to get more insight into Loki. Between it and Avengers, Alessa felt she was getting closer to understanding him.

Forget the romance with Jane Foster, the real story in Thor was about Loki. Love stories were a dime a dozen, but a story about brothers, magic, and thousand year grudges? As her friend Tanya would put it, "yes please, cut me off a slice of _that_ _!_ "

After another 15 minutes or so of time wasting, Alessa decided it was probably nearing the time she should begin on homework. College wasn't for the weak of heart, after all.

But the mere thought of that calculus homework…

Maybe another 10 minutes wouldn't hurt, she decided wryly.

Within a few minutes she'd found a link to "Great Avengers Wallpapers!" for phones. They were fun, but for some reason she couldn't get the image for the "Loki Trapped" wallpaper to load. It was supposedly one of those with the character pressed up against up against the glass as if they were trapped and trying to escape. They were pretty popular, and Alessa thought they were worth a good laugh.

Now if only the darn thing would load.

Alessa glanced at the clock in the corner of the screen. It was nearly ten o'clock.

With a sigh, she decided to go ahead and download it. Maybe _then_ she could at least view it. Of course, her friends would all tease her mercilessly if they saw it. They were all convinced that just because _they_ were hopelessly in love with Tom Hiddleston that she had to be too. There was a difference between appreciating an interesting character and crushing on a good looking actor. They were just unaware of it.

Running a hand through her hair, she clicked download. Once she was sure it was actually loading, she plugged it in to charge. With a sigh, she moved to her desk and opened her textbook.

 _That "wallpaper" had better not be a virus,_ she thought bitterly, beginning the chapter.

* * *

She woke to a horrid buzzing noise. It felt like someone had weaponized sound and was trying to commit homicide with it.

...Had she upset anyone recently?

For some reason the idea made her think of Iron Man. Why would it-? Wait. Of course. Weaponized sound, Obadiah, Stark. Iron Man 1. Ah, sweet Marvel…

The sound was still going.

Alessa eventually became aware that she wasn't murdered, but her alarm was going off. Maybe they _should_ weaponise it though. That thing was awful.

Groaning, she stumbled out from under her covers and over to her alarm clock. She'd placed it across the room so it'd be harder to hit 'snooze' before she realized that she really did have to go to class. It wasn't as effective as she'd hoped, but it was approximately 29% more successful overall than bedside alarm clock placement.

And she was already measuring percentages. That probably meant she was awake.

Slapping the clock off, Alessa massaged her forehead before reaching for her phone. Checking for any new messages or emails was always her first task of the morning. Hm. Nothing. But, ( _ah ha!)_ the evil-virus-monster-that-still-might-be-a-wallpaper had finished downloading.

She procrastinated for a while, going through her morning routine and starting breakfast before letting curiosity overtake her paranoia. _No time like the present,_ she decided, _if it's going to destroy my phone, it's not like trying the wallpaper will activate the virus, right?_

Sometimes Alessa really wished she knew more about technology.

In 'Settings' she selected the new wallpaper. _Now for the big reveal!_ she thought, pouring a glass of orange juice.

Going to her homescreen, she was disappointed to see that Loki wasn't pressed up against the glass trying to escape, but sitting a bit further in the distance against a white wall, staring blankly across the room. It _was_ well rendered, and she'd give it that.

"At least it's not a virus," she muttered, annoyed at the false advertising. Alessa took a long swig of her juice, and she thought she saw something move out the corner of her eye. She really needed to get more sleep.

Glancing around the tabletop, she finally focused on her phone.

Loki was looking up at her now, head tilted. Hadn't he been…?

"Well this is unexpected." he said mildly.

Alessa briefly considered screaming, but she really didn't have the energy for that. It was too early for this.

"You could say that again," she replied, taking another sip of her orange juice.

Was she still asleep and dreaming, or just hallucinating from exhaustion? Either way, the Marvel geek in her kept her from worrying too much. Fandom related dreams were always fun - even gifts to be treasured; every true fan knew that. Shouldn't that go for fandom related hallucinations too?

The (dream? Hallucinatory?) Loki studied her for a moment before rolling his eyes. "I presume you're a Midgardian, and only recently awake, by the looks of it."

"What a clever, clever little man in the box," she monotoned.

Loki raised an eyebrow. "What a dull-witted little mortal gaping at a box." he replied, voice light.

Alessa smirked at him, internally laughing at the fact that she was talking to her _phone_. "Your words have no power," she told him, "You just summed up my entire existence, and I love Insta far too much to be offended."

He allowed for a small frown, puzzling over her 'small-minded foolishness' no doubt before simply shaking his head. "You won't do at _all_ ," he told her.

"I'd love to hear it, but I have more important things to do." she told him apologetically, "Like make toast." and with that she turned off her phone.

She went to pop a slice of bread in the toaster when she was suddenly hit by a wave of exhaustion. Why had she stayed up so late again?

Loki was in her _phone_. Was she really so anxious about malware that she'd dreamed up _that_?

This was going to be a fun day. She could tell already.

* * *

 **AN: Welcome to the story! Thanks for taking time to read my silly little story. This is my first time posting a fic, so feedback is welcome and appreciated!**


	2. Chapter 2

By the time her first class was over, Alessa's backpack and schedule were both heavier. Now it was time for her favorite part of the day, rushing across the campus and frantically dashing up and down flights of stairs to try and reach World History on time. At least Kerri usually saved a spot for her.

She slipped in the door and began searching for Kerri just as class started. Luckily, the blonde noticed and waved her over. Alessa slid behind a desk and was able to pull out her notebook just in time to jot down the due dates for future assignments. _Whew!_

It was a shame the class announcements were so useful, or she could walk at a reasonable pace and come in late. Once the announcements were over and the T.A. began introducing the day's subject, Alessa snuck out her phone to check for messages. She felt a little bad about it, but it wasn't like she was missing anything. If Mr. Dart said something at all relevant less than 20 minutes into class, she'd _eat_ her phone.

"Nice background," Kerri teased, taking a sip from a colorful thermos, "You have excellent taste."

Alessa blinked, then remembered that Kerri was a fellow Marvel fan. She quickly shut off her phone, still unnerved from the morning's shenanigans. "Thanks," she replied. Then she noticed the brightly colored thermos on Kerri's desk. "And stop drinking that!" Alessa hissed, swatting at her friend's hand, "You're going to kill yourself one of these days."

Kerri raised an eyebrow, deliberately taking a long drink. "You don't even know what's in here."

Alessa raised an eyebrow right back. "I know it's an unholy combination of coffee and at _least_ a few energy drinks that shouldn't be concocted until a combination of desperation and exhaustion brought on by finals begins corrupting the frail human mind."

They stared at each other for a moment before breaking into identical grins.

"Maybe I'll get mutated by it and then I can join the Avengers." Kerri said with a shrug.

"You and I _both_ know that's not actually how-"

"Stop talking in class, Lessy," Kerri deadpanned, turning her attention back to Dart.

It looked like things would be quiet for a bit - there were still several minutes until the lesson would actually begin - so Alessa slumped over her desk and closed her eyes, hoping to reach the trance-like state of rest that would hopefully help make up for her three and a half hours of sleep this morning. Ah, sweet darkness. Now to catch up on-

Someone nudged her knee. "Hey, 'Lessa."

Alessa groaned softly, peeling her eyelids open. "What." she whispered.

"...So, Hiddleston, hmm?" Kerri asked, smiling as she raised an eyebrow.

Alessa sighed, dropping her head on the desk. She should have known better. When had Kerri ever let something silly like class or _sleep_ get in the way of discussing boys?

"Loki," Alessa corrected, hiding beneath her hair in order to avoid eye contact with Kerri. "Loki, not Tom Hiddleston. There's a difference."

Kerri shrugged, "Loki's a bad boy and Hiddleston's a red head. Take your pick."

And if _that_ wasn't worth an eyeroll, Alessa didn't know what was.

"It's not about that," she protested.

Kerri just sent her a _look_ , shook her head in amusement, and went back to drinking her death drink.

"It's not!"

* * *

When Alessa collapsed onto a bench to start lunch, she almost wasn't surprised to see the Asgardian in her phone was pacing.

She'd really gotten it out to check her email, but she may as well chat, right? How often did you get the chance to talk to a character from your favorite movie?

"Good afternoon," she sighed, taking a bite out of her sandwich.

He ignored her in favor of continuing his pacing. Rude.

Alessa suddenly realized that she had an incredible opportunity. She could be _annoying._

You could only annoy normal friends so far before they decided to ditch you. But trapped phone entities?

Thoroughly delighted, Alessa decided it was time to have a bit of fun. "Mmm, what a good sandwich. So delicious. Yup, don't mind me, I'm just sitting here, eating my tuna sandwich, talking to my phone. Nothing unusual, no aliens, no Norse gods, not even any _fictional characters._ Just good old fashioned lunch." she went on like this for a while, jabbering to try and provoke a reaction out of Loki.

For about five minutes, there was nothing.

Well, nothing but a few odd looks from passing students. But that was to be expected.

Loki was cool as a cucumber, obviously wanting to show that he was "above her" or some nonsense. Alessa smirked internally. This was not his game. Well, she'd show him and his ridiculous superiority complex. He thought he was so much better than her? She'd show him that she was so far below him that she didn't even care how far up or down or sideways anyone was. What was the fun of having an immortal in your phone if you didn't mess with him?

Within a few more minutes of this treatment, however, Loki was obviously fighting to hide his agitation.

"You know, I've never had an Asgardian in my phone before," she told him around a mouthful of apple, "Course, I don't know that you qualify. Huh, do you even count?"

He glanced up at her, annoyed, but quickly went back to pacing.

Alessa continued her chattering, but checked her watch. She still had a good twenty minutes to bug Loki before class started.

"...But that's when she realized that Jimmy had been at lunch with _Stacy_ , so of course she decided to text him. But Maggie told her, 'Tanya, you can't do these things over the phone. At _least_ Skype him or something'. It was a three hour drive, you know? And Annie's a good girl, of course, so she and-"

"Be quiet, woman!" Loki screeched.

Alessa paused, taking a breath. In a way, she was relieved that she could finally stop. She was running out of things to talk about, not to mention it was only five minutes before her next class started.

She smiled pleasantly at him. "It's been nice talking with you, Lokster. See you later?"

He scowled at her, and she shut off her phone.

 _Ha. Alessa: 1, Loki: 0._


	3. Chapter 3

It had been a week.

Alessa was still very much enjoying her new wallpaper.

Through some experimentation, she had discovered that Loki's magic (or her own madness) didn't extend to any of her friends. All anyone else saw on her phone was a picture of Loki. This meant Alessa could pass time chatting, albeit one sidedly, with the Norse God in her phone without any questions about how he'd gotten in there.

There would be questions about her sanity, though. Alessa figured that, since she had never worried too much about those before, why start now?

"How's my favorite incarcerated Norse god?" she asked, checking for new texts after class.

Loki sent her a flat look over the top of the book he had been peacefully reading before the interruption. When he went back to reading, Alessa nodding knowingly.

"No luck on finding a spell to undo this connection? That's a bummer. I know you've been working overtime trying to find one, even with only your tiny, twelve book library that you've read through four and a half times. Find anything interesting?"

Loki studiously avoided looking at her as he turned the page and muttered something under his breath that sounded suspiciously like "several appropriately creative punishment jinxes".

"Glad to know you're thinking of me, Loki boy." Alessa said, popping a piece of gum into her mouth, "Wish I could be there, but _college_ , you know? I'm sure your brother would love to act as proxy for any gifts you've been wanting to give me."

She mouthed along with his automatic protest of " _not my brother"_ as she exited the life sciences building. It was nearing October, and the chill was starting to grow noticeable enough that sweaters were a necessity.

"Brrr… It's getting cold out. Want some hot chocolate?" she asked idly, "I think I'll stop for some. What do you think, triple chocolate or that new salted caramel flavor? I'm currently leaning towards caramel, but Annie told me she was _in love_ with the triple chocolate."

Alessa had gotten into the habit of talking with Loki during her free time. Thinking out loud like this helped her think through things better as well as having the added benefit of annoying Loki. She was certain that if they ever actually met he would curse her to Niflheim and back, but with the protection of her phone screen between them it was well worth it.

"Of course, the question arises: is the triple chocolate hot chocolate simply made with three times more chocolate? Or do they use three different types of chocolate? If that's the case, which three chocolates do they use? Three different foreign chocolates? Milk, dark, and white?"

Loki seemed to be working at ignoring her, so she continued her musings.

"I wonder if the two possible types of triple chocolate are congruent. Could I ask for double white chocolate with dark chocolate? Would that still count as triple chocolate? Or would it be something else at that point? A...reverse oreo, perhaps? Two whites to a single dark-?"

"If I deign to speak with you," Loki asked, eyes closed as if in pain, "will you stop your incessant prattling?"

Alessa _stopped._ As in, froze where she was, mouth open mid-sentence, stopped.

Seven days of Alessa rambling, and Loki had never done more than ignore her and occasionally demand she stop rambling. Was he-? Was Loki offering to _converse_ with her?

 _Very kind of the high and mighty prince,_ the sarcastic part of her brain noted.

She shushed that part of her brain, despite agreeing with it, and tried to decide how to play this. Get revenge on Loki by continuing to "prattle"? Ignore _him_ to see how he liked it? Create some sort of contract requiring a certain number of minutes used in conversing in order to buy her silence for the day?

After a moment, Alessa decided on something a little more subtle.

"Sure," she chirped happily.

There was long moment of silence, then…

" _What?_ "

"What?" she asked, feigning confusion.

"You have been chattering constantly, _blathering,_ seemingly incapable of so much as a minute of silence, and you choose to stop now?"

Alessa shrugged innocently. "You did ask me to," she said sweetly.

His eyebrow twitched.

"I have not had more than six hours at a time of respite - presumably while you slept - from your headache-inducing voice since we met. I have ordered you to stop on multiple occasions."

"Yup."

"And yet, _now,_ when I ask for silence, you comply?"

Keeping a straight face was a true struggle. Honestly, it was.

"Yeah, I mean, talking _with_ someone is much better than just talking while they listen." Alessa admitted sincerely.

"I suppose you would think as much," he muttered. Taking a breath and seeming to brace himself, Loki asked, "And _what_ would you like to talk about?"

The look on his face really was priceless. He seemed to think that engaging her in conversation was an advanced form of torture.

She shrugged, "Just wanted your opinion, I guess. Salted caramel or triple chocolate?"

He closed his eyes for a moment and when he spoke his jaw seemed tense. "Clearly you should get the triple chocolate. Despite the initial interest you showed in the 'caramel', you barely mentioned it in your rambling."

Alessa made a questioning face and he waved a disinterested hand, elaborating. "It's obvious that you are infatuated with the idea of 'triple chocolate'. Once you've tasted it and had some mundane conversation with the serving staff about the meaning of the phrase 'triple chocolate' it will be put out of your mind entirely. Otherwise you will be twittering about it for days."

"Huh," was all Alessa could say in response.

Just- _wow_ , he'd put some thought into that, hadn't he?

"You really think so?" she asked, still not quite convinced.

"For the love of Valhalla, woman!" Loki shouted. " _Order the triple chocolate."_ he hissed.

A frown tugged at her lips. "But you're really sure?" Alessa checked again, feeling rather unsure about the whole thing. "I do love caramel."

"I have made my thoughts on the matter more than evident. What you do now is of no importance to me." He said. And with that, Loki snatched up his book and went back to ignoring her.

"Huh," she said again.

Her phone was halfway back to her purse when she flipped it back out. "...Wait," she squealed, "You were _listening!"_

* * *

"-what can I get for you today?" the counter attendant asked cheerfully.

"I'd like to try the triple chocolate hot chocolate." Alessa told him. "Which is decidedly different than a triple hot chocolate."

The counter attendant gave a tired smile. He probably got a lot of comments like that working here. "Yes, and it's also different than a chocolate chocolate hot triple."

"Of course," Alessa agreed, smiling.

* * *

 **AN: And that's a wrap, folks! Thank you all for your support, I find it a bit incredible that anyone's reading this mess. Apologies for the wait on the update, but a new chapter's in the works and it will hopefully see the light of day soon. :)**


	4. Chapter 4

Ever since the Great Cocoa Incident, Alessa felt that she and Loki had been getting along swimmingly.

Admittedly, that may have been a 'slightly delusional' view of things, as Loki would phrase it, but the two of them had certainly been growing friendlier.

For example, Loki's glares were _at least_ six percent more fondly exasperated than before (instead of just exasperated). And yes, glare strength is something you can measure and compare scientifically. Really.

It had led to a new stage in their relationship, one where Alessa chatted with Loki, he insulted her and gave his opinion on the matter (that it was below him), and then she mulled it over for a minute before turning off the phone. This arrangement was, of course, nearly identical to the previous one, except that Alessa left her pocket Asgardian alone within five minutes or so.

The new, feeble truce was very much hinged on Alessa not "chittering" at him for long periods of time, and Loki not… and Loki trying….

Actually, come to think of it, Alessa wasn't sure _what_ he did differently. Maybe interacted more? He still insulted her "petty life" and ignored her for the most part.

Still, she generally prefered to approach new friendships and acquaintances with optimism, so for now she would assume that Loki was also putting out an effort in exchange for her effort at not bugging him.

He had seemed faintly more responsive recently, hadn't he? Why, just the other day he had told her that he had no less than no interest in whether she was thinking of switching from tuna sandwiches to PB&J, let alone jelly choice after the hypothetical switch.

(Alessa had replied that if he had to choose between blackberry and grape he would be just as invested.)

Unsurprisingly, the decrease in time spent talking to her screensaver led to an increase in time talking Real People. As in, living, breathing, college students who were not in her phone.

It was an odd shift, to say the least.

The first time Alessa had gone for an evening out with the girls after downloading her new wallpaper, she nearly broke into tears of joy when they chatted with her and didn't insult her 'mortality' and 'trivial thoughts'.

...Which was completely normal, right? It had been less than two weeks, and Alessa wasn't sure she had a good grasp on what 'normal' was anymore.

Although, as great as Real People were, Alessa still enjoied a nice chat with Loki over lunch. (Despite having to keep reminding herself to leave him be after a few minutes. It seemed she was more invested in this relationship than Loki was.)

But it was all worth it for the moments where they both talked. When she _could_ draw him into conversation his comments were often insightful and thought provoking. Well, the comments that weren't jibes about idiot Midgardians.

(Well, the taunts could be thought provoking too. Alessa had actually taken to writing down the best of them, for later reuse. Of course, finding an opportunity to use the ever growing list about "mortals" would be difficult, but Alessa was always up for a challenge. Maybe she could pretend to be a supervillain…)

All this was why Alessa was completely and totally heartbroken (read: panicked) when she dropped her phone on the sidewalk and cracked the glass.

Well, she said dropped.

It had been a spectacular fall, flung at high speed from her fingers as she gestured to a nearby building. She knew it was just a phone - and an older, junky one at that - but she began to worry when the screen wouldn't turn on.

She had considered Loki a friend, despite the way he considered her an annoyance.

The next day, with her phone at the shop and her spirits in the very depths of despair, Alessa bemoaned her situation to one of her high school friends over Skype, though she did her best to avoid mentioning the Asgardian she had lost connection with.

"I just don't understand why this always happens to me!" she moaned, sinking further into her couch. "I mean, what if it's broken forever? I know I can buy a new phone, and that money's coming out of the food and clothing budgets, but I don't think it will ever be the same as having Lo- my old phone."

Tanya made a _hmm_ sound, face popping in and out of the frame as she got settled on a couch.

"Do you have a comfort drink, at least, to help deal with the separation? Preferably hot chocolate." Tanya said. She was a big believer in the power of chocolate.

"Triple chocolate hot chocolate," Alessa confirmed, holding up the mug she'd poured it into.

"Nice. High end at least." Tanya said lightly.

Alessa sighed dramatically, throwing her feet up over the armrest. See? There was just no… no spark of interest in the _tripleness_ of the chocolate.

No curiosity about that grand mystery.

Tanya was a darling, but she wasn't Loki, who could at least, despite his own disinterest, understand the allure.

"I miss him," she whispered, admitting it to herself.

"Miss who?" Tanya asked, perking up immediately.

Huh? Oh- _Red alert!_ Alessa thought, _Time to backtrack to avoid mentioning movie characters trapped in phones_. "What, who? I never said anything about there being a guy." She bumbled.

Wait.

Tanya let out a sound of triumph over the line. "So there _is_ a guy. Did you break up? Why didn't you just say so?"

"We weren't dating!" Alessa insisted, "we just… talked!"

"Uh-huh." Tanya said, "No, a _boy_. This explains it. I _thought_ this was a bit of an over reaction for your phone, even from you!"

"Hey!" Alessa protested.

"Wait, is this like Senior year in high school when you texted a wrong number and ended up befriending that kid from Michigan? You were 'just talking' then too, but then it turned out you had a bunch of common interests and you ended up becoming-"

"Yes," Alessa groaned, mainly to make her friend stop talking, "this is _quite_ like that. Except now I don't have a way to get a hold of him."

Tanya gave a long _oooooh_ sound which translated directly to ' _and the plot thickens'._

"You only had his number in your phone. And switching phones is already expensive and bad enough without the drama of losing contact info. Wow. I mean, just- wow."

"Yeah," Alessa agreed despondently, though in some corner of her brain she was glad that Tanya finally understood the gravity of the situation.

"Lessa, I'm sorry. I know you get attached to your random, serial killer friends you make on the internet and by texting wrong numbers."

"He's _not a serial killer,"_ Alessa corrected, rolling her eyes. She added, ' _He just invaded New York in an alternate, fictional reality, okay?_ ' in her head. "You have to stop assuming that about everyone I meet." she said out loud.

The problem, she had decided, with talking to your pocket Asgardian practically nonstop for nearly two weeks was that you got spoiled and stopped watching your tongue. _In fact_ , she decided, _I'm probably worse than ever, trying to come up with snarky or inflammatory comments constantly, not to mention blurting things out for shock value-_

"I've got to go if I want to get to work on time," Tanya interrupted suddenly, sounding surprised.

"Time flies, I guess." Alessa replied with a shrug. "So... talk later?"

"Tomorrow." Tanya agreed, already sweeping her hair back into a neat braid. "And 'Lessa?"

"Yeah?"

"If it helps you feel any better, he's probably either too young for you or _way_ too old for you." Tanya said.

Alessa took a moment to think of Loki, practically immortal, older than many civilizations. "You're probably right," she agreed, laughter bubbling up in her throat.

* * *

 **AN: Sorry for the wait, folks, but behold! A new chapter! Sorry there's no Loki in this one, but he'll be back next time. I'm working on the next update, and although school and I are having a bit of a disagreement about how much time I should spend writing, it should be up sometime next week. Thank you all for your support! You guys rock.**


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